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In this thread I will be posting my best finds from Mazon Creek localities - so far I’ve only visited Mazonia-Braidwood fish & wildlife area and the Braceville coal mine spoil pile. “Mazon Creek beds” is a colloquial term for a Pennsylvanian Lagerstätte preserved in the Francis Creek shale member of Carbondale formation in several areas of Northern Illinois, including Mazon creek itself. Back 310 million years ago, that area was a river delta that preserved remains of both aquatic and terrestrial organisms in siderite concretions, that now (in the Holocene) you can find and open yourself to reveal the fossils. It is typically divided into two separate biotas - Braidwood, which is largely terrestrial, and Essex biota that is more marine. So far, I have only collected at Essex localities. So, I will start with by far the most common organism in the Essex biota - Essexella ascherae cnidarian, that was first thought to be a jellyfish and is now considered a sea anemone. They mostly preserve as “blobs” of quite diverse shapes. Here are some of my favorites - first, two large specimens from Braceville. This plate preserves 8 small individuals, also from Braceville. These two smaller ones are from Mazonia, Tipple hill area. Note that if Essexella was an anemone, they are positioned upside down in the pictures.
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I was able to open some concretions from my recent trip to the Tipple hill area of Pit 11 (Francis Creek member, Carbondale formation; Pennsylvanian). Among them was this strange fossil - it looks to me like a cycloid, but I’m afraid it may be wishful thinking and it’s just a weirdly shaped coprolite. Would appreciate any suggestions! @RCFossils @Nimravis @deutscheben @Mark Kmiecik @stats
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Just got back today from my first trip to Mazonia-Braidwood (pit 11) this year! I unfortunately couldn't make it on the opening weekend, and was afraid we won’t find anything this late - but I ended up being pleasantly surprised. By this point I ran out of concretions to freeze-thaw from last year, so I’m very excited for the next few months We decided to go back to the Tipple hill area. Here is what it looks like now - open, barren fields of rocks 99.9999% of which are not what we are looking for. What I found especially challenging about this area, is that there are numerous concretions that have perfect shapes, but are not actually the right type of rock - yellow/light orange. I haven’t seen them at other places within Mazonia. I tried cracking a few last year, but they just have quartz (?) crystals on the inside. I guess they are not actually from Francis Creek shale? I forgot to take pictures, but would be curious to hear from people familiar with this. And of course, here are a few dinosaur eggs (the right type of rock) in situ Here is the total haul. Probably not a lot for this site, but this is definitely the most productive pit 11 trip I’ve had so far. Even better, unlike my previous visits, this time I found quite a few fossils in already open concretions. Here is a shrimp molt Both halves of a Calamites I think this is a Cyperites leaf These two halves of Annularia whorls cracked on the drive home And, of course, a neat anemone - Essexella ascherae. Surprisingly, this is the only one we found (so far). Will keep this thread updated with new fossils as I freeze-thaw the remaining concretions. I will also be back to Mazonia this weekend, but will probably go to a different site. I’m hoping this will become a mega-thread of all of my future Mazon creek trips. Out of all of the fossil sites I ever collected at, this is genuinely one of my favorites, if not the favorite - amazing fossils you can’t find anywhere else, plus instant gratification from finding concretions is always followed by delayed gratification over months of opening them. Here are my past trips to Mazonia and Braceville in 2023:
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Spent a couple days collecting at Mazonia/Braidwood last weekend. Found a couple areas with decent open concretions, excited to see what opens up in coming weeks. ID help very welcome on these open ones, thank you!
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Today, I stopped by the DuPage County Fairgrounds fairgrounds for the 2024 ESCONI (Earth Science Club of Northern Illinois) Show. The show runs today and tomorrow and I have to say, it was really busy. The show is great for anyone interested in rocks, minerals or fossils. There were a number of dealers present as well as other things that are managed by ESCONI, such as Silent Auctions, Live Auctions, Kids Corner, Book sales, Demonstrations, etc. Book sales- Kids Corner Silent Auctions- Live Auctions- Demonstrations/ Give always- Displays-
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Hi all! Got a quick question for the Mazon Creek veterans - I've only been collecting for this season and last, but I've been out there 15 times or so now. On opening weekend I took my 17 y/o daughter and her friend, the girls and I hit a spot that was loaded w concretions. I did the 10 day soak and they are now going through 10 freeze/thaw cycles. I've never had concretions with this color - all the ones were rust colored, the outer layer and the inner concretions. These were rust colored also, but the outer shell flaked off and now they look like this. Has anyone that collected a lot of concretions noticed any patterns in the type of concretions that have better success rate? Basically I'm asking which ones to get my hopes up for -- haha! Last year I had a lot of nice shapes, and very little success. Heres a pic of one of them and a few of the haul from our trip and a pair of happy kids!
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Hello all! I’ve had the chance to get out a few times this year, collecting has been good! So far 3 trips, my daughter has a Tully, a friend found a half of one (hopefully posts it!) and we’ve had numerous random open fossils of various species. And LOTS of full concretions to freeze-thaw open. Here’s a few I was hoping to get confirmation on - I found some good clues in Jack Wittry’s book. 1) My daughter’s Tully - found open, covered in mineral deposits. 2) A large shrimp - weathered and probably open for a long time 3) Maybe an Orbiculoidea sp.? Pretty weathered but looks close to the books Lastly maybe an indeterminate discoidal cephalopod? I only have half of the fossil but it’s quite a deep concretion & shell shaped. Thanks for stopping by! Pat
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I have 2 Pennsylvanian fossils from Mazon Creek. They have previously been identified as crenulopteris and lobatopteris lamuriana. Presumably the crenulopteris specimen is a seed fern; however, I am unsure about the lobatopteris lamuriana specimen. Presumably the lobatopteris was once labeled as a pecopteris so is it still considered to be a seed fern? Any information or suggestions would be greatly appreciated. The first image is of the lobatopteris specimen, The next image is of the crenulopteris specimen.
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Hello all - I hope my fellow hunters were able to avoid the tics and enjoy the unseasonably warm weather and enjoy a great opening weekend! We came away with one FULL 5 gallon bucket of mostly unopened concretions - with a possible Tully and some nice plant material among the open concretions. Would anyone care to take a stab at this one that came out of pit 11? Thanks! Patrick
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Made it out to Mazonia for the opening day this year, and it was the first time I ever filled a bucket. Went back with my 4 and 5 year old and they found another 20 concretions themselves. A little chilly the first day but it kept the bugs dormant, great weather on the return trip. We got a nice open Alethopteris half as well.
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Hello, it’s been awhile! I’ve been opening up some Mazon Pit 11 stuff and came across this thing. I try to keep myself pretty grounded when it comes to Mazon stuff, because I’m horribly bad at ID’ing anything in a concretion. That said, any chance this is an annelid worm? Thank you as always!
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Today I went through a few small containers of concretions that were collected in the late 70’s / early 80’s. These were not collected by me, these are from a collection that I purchased last year from a friend. These were in multiple freezer/ thaw cycles. A lot popped today, mainly Essexella asherae and possibly another species. A decent Tully Monster also opened- it has the neck, transverse bar with eyes and a nice body. A couple shrimp, worms and a leech. Annularia- A large fern concretion that did not open very well. A few other pieces of flora. Back to more freeze and thaw, I have a lot more to go.
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For those of you in the Chicago area, ESCONI (Earth Science Club of Northern Illinois) is having their annual show March 16-17 this year. More details on their website: ESCONI 2024 Gem, Mineral, and Fossil Show! March 16th and 17th, 2024 #gem #mineral #fossil #show #2024 #fossils #minerals #gems - Earth Science Club of Northern Illinois - ESCONI
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Kids and I went out to Mazonia Braidwood last spring. Been freezing/thawing nodules and found one that has us stumped. Would appreciate some expert input! My son asked me to also post the other one to see what you guys think. Thanks in advance!
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any possibility for IL fossil hunting in the winter? where?
rocks in my pockets posted a topic in Fossil Hunting Trips
hey! brand new to the forum. tagged mazon creek because I think that's the most popular spot in IL but I'm aware it's not open to the public at the moment. does anyone know of spots that are open to the public in the winter? anywhere in IL? otherwise, any connections with landowners have access to fossil beds? nowhere with disputed ownership/right on the border between public and private, not looking to put myself and my friends in an unsafe situation especially during deer season. I would really appreciate some input! don't need anything special, just wanna go poking around in the dirt with my friends. :) -
This was found in the southern unit of the Mazonia Wildlife Management area in northern Illinois. Ma nature had already opened it, so it may be in kind of rough shape. Is there enough here to identify it ?
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Hi - I was recently given some concretions from Mazon Creek in Grundy County, IL. to open. I have been able to mostly identify some fauna specimens using the Mazon Creek books. However, not able to identify this one using the book or searches on the internet. Looks like a gold fish to me. Any ideas?
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Hello, Could I get an ID on this mazon creek unknown? It has pretty high relief and strong segmentation with makes me think arthropod like a millipede, but I don't see any legs so maybe it's an annelid worm or something.
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This mazon creek pit 11 concretion opened a couple days ago and looks kind of like a ribbon worm but the preservation is different than examples I've been able to find. Any insight would be appreciated thanks. Also my word suggestion prompted me to say Happy Thanksgiving!
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Today was a nice “Mazon Creek Fossil Day” at the Coal City Library presented by ESCONI (Earth Science Club of Northern Illinois). The library. There were about 45 people in attendance which included some FF members. There were a number of displays that contained Mazon Creek fossils and you were able to purchase the various MC books by Jack Witry @fiddlehead. Fossils- Some of the attendees- (L) Rich @stats and Marty. Continued on next post.
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This is the Mazon Monday post from the ESCONI website this morning. There were numerous Fossil Forum users.... @bigred97 @flipper559 @RMAA. I know there were others there. Please add yourselves. ---------------------------------------------------------- The Fall 2023 Braceville Field Trip is in the books... is is that on the web? It was a enjoyable, but somewhat wet, weekend. We had rain at the very end of the day on Saturday and most of Sunday. The mud was not too bad. The dry conditions this late summer probably left the shale in a state where it could soak up a good bit of the water. We had visitors from out of state both days. Alan Keith was very generous and passed out fossils from Texas and Oklahoma. The fossil dump was as good as ever. We had quite a few buckets on both days. Unfortunately, not as many people stuck around until 11:30 on Sunday, as we had a steady rain for most of the morning. Material was supplied by Ralph Jewell, @Nimravis Andrew Young, Rich Holm, Alan Keith, and others. Thank you for your contributions! Good morning! Here is a little introductory video on the walk in on Sunday morning. It rained quite a bit Saturday night, so the shale was sticky in places. Here is a Mazon Monday post about the history of the Braceville spoil pile. It was called worm hill by the old timers. Fossil Dump on Saturday Good luck horseshoe found by Chris Berg @bigred97. Huntin' for fossils! Smiles from the pile! Mud! Poison ivy! Steam from the hill when the sun came out on Sunday afternoon Open fossils found! Say goodbye to another successful field trip!
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Is this a Mazon creek insect? It has these strange lines on the front. thanks for your time Trilobites_are_awesome.
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Hello! I had the privilege of joining ESCONI to Mazon’s Pit 4 yesterday and came across this concretion. There’s a very good chance it’s nothing, but I thought the 3D shape might be peculiar. The concretion is about 1.5 cm wide in total. Thank you for looking!
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Hi all, is this a Hesslerella shermani isopod from the Mazon Creek? It is from the Braidwood area Pit 11 I think it is one but I am no expert in this area
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I went surface collecting, looking for fossils near Terra Haute Indiana and and came home with a number of concretions. Most were pretty plant fossils, and one was a plant hash plate and then there was this concretion. I dont know what to make out of it, so any help or suggestions will be very welcome. It is approximately 3 inches by 1 inch , and I am showing upper and lower sides.
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